Dallas Officer Fired, Arrested Over Dashcam Video

DALLAS (CBSDFW.COM) – An officer with the Dallas Police Department was arrested and stripped of his badge after allegedly beating a suspect on camera. On Wednesday, the department released patrol car video of the officer kicking and macing a handcuffed suspect during a traffic stop.

The traffic stop was three weeks ago in northeast Dallas, along Abrams Road. The video shows the officer in a struggle with the suspect. CBS 11 News was told that this struggle angered the officer, who then took his frustrations out on the motorist. The officer can be seen hitting the suspect with a flashlight, kicking him and macing him.

The officer, identified as Quaitemes Williams, now faces criminal charges for this incident. Another officer complained about the beating. When Chief David Brown saw the video, he fired Williams and charged him with official oppression.

Williams was taken to Dallas County Jail on Wednesday afternoon. He was then later released on a $1,000 bond. A third officer was placed on a 10-day suspension for not reporting what he witnessed that night.

The suspected motorist in this case is Rodarick Lyles. He was arrested and charged with resisting arrest and driving with a suspended license. CBS 11 News was unable to contact Lyles, but was told that he is out of jail and only partially cooperating with the police.

During a news conference on Wednesday, Brown praised the other officer who reported the execessive use of force, saying that he exposed a clear case of brutality. “The response can’t be, when the suspect is defenseless and handcuffed, to kick a person in the head or even mace a person,” Brown said. “We have to be more professional, more disciplined than that.”

“What the officer did was certainly wrong. Deserves the punishment he’s going to get,” said Dallas Police Association spokesman Glenn White. “Now, he’s going through the criminal justice system from the other side.”

The police officer’s firing comes on the heels of other police officers complaining about Brown’s installation of a Dashcam Review Board. Brown said on Wednesday, “We also ask the public to view these actions as proof that we can and will police ourselves.”